Zoo

As one of Scout's Birthday presents we got an annual family pass to the Sydney Zoo.  The zoo is only about 20 min. from our house, has fantastic exhibits and amazing views over the Sydney Harbor.  It was a cool and cloudy day when we went, but the kids had a blast.  Here are a few pics from our trip.  I am sure with an annual pass we'll have many more pics to share! -kel

One

Today Scout turned one.  My how quickly this last year has gone.  Here she is this morning enjoying a yummy breakfast.  She is cheeky and adorable, super cuddly and one of the happiest kids I know.  Her curls are turning a redish blond and growing so long that barrettes or piggy tails are now a daily must.  We love you Scouty, here is to another fantastic year! -kel

Super Mark

9:30 PM last night, kids in bed, washing up finished, time for a Sunday night movie, that was until we were interrupted by a visitor…  

Mark pulled off a minor miracle, proved his true and unwavering love for me and fought off a lizard running around our house with a toy reindeer. Seriously people this was funny stuff, the lizard was like a speed demon at one point running all over our ceiling.  

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Mark lately? He is funny, really funny fighting a lizard with a toy reindeer, and super handy to have around when it comes to reptile repellent.

I didn't capture last night on film, but with skills like these I felt this photo did Mark's super awesome-ness justice!–kel  

(ps neither the reindeer nor the lizard were harmed)

Swing

Scout loves the swings, here she is today having a blast. Below with Luca on the slide, looking at that sibling love. -kel

North Curly Park

We are lucky to have a number of awesome playgrounds within walking distance of the house. While the park at North Curl Curl Beach is not the one we get to most often we have been making our stops there over the years.

from our garden

This year we've tried a few veggies in the garden.  

We've had great success with lemons and oranges and have now branched out to spring onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli and jalapenos.  So far everything has been fantastic, we are now harvesting the tomatoes and have just pickled the last of the cucumbers. We are loving every moment of summer and our new veggies are keeping both Luca and Scout gowing like weeds. -kel

Scouty's First Christmas

Santa feasted on a chocolate and caramel candy Koala, peaches and a kids take-out coffee cup as he stacked presents under the tree. The reindeers, or more likely the 12 white boomers (Kangaroos), that carry Santa's sleigh across Australia were heard in the front yard during the night; and there was great anticipation from Luca at what Santa would bring.

Definitely an awesome Christmas mainly because Luca is at the age that it all comes together. Luca even made a big effort to speak with Santa at our annual pre-Christmas trip into the city to meet the man in red and white this year whereas last year there were only tears (Scouty more than made up for things in the tear dept. however and mummy and daddy ended up in the Santa photo again!).

We had a leisurely opening of presents at our place in the morning. Leisurely because Luca wants to take everything out of the box that he gets and play with it immediately and because we try and get Scout to show as much interest in the presents as in the wrapping paper (which if we are not careful ends up in her mouth). 

After opening presents we headed up to my parents house for lunch and a swim before heading home for some left over Turkey and crash.

A great day to reflect on how lucky I am and what a great family I have.

 - M

Christmas Eve

Since we moved into our new house three years ago we have been inviting friends and family over to kick off Christmas celebrations with an amazing dinner that Kelly spends days getting ready. The highlight is always the turkey, people don't cook turkey's so much over here (they are expensive and also there is no Thanksgiving) and everybody at dinner always marvels at how big the bird is.

This year we were joined by family from both sides we had a great time and ate and drank till we dropped (almost). Post-dinner clean up there is always just enough energy to get things all ready for the kids big day.

Mark & Kelly with Mark's sister Susie and her husband Clayton

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you all. 

 - Mark & Kelly

sprinkler

We ignored the water restrictions, had some very funny laughs, threw off Luca's clothes and turned on the back yard sprinkler...fantastic!

Luca had a blast!

Saturday we hosted Luca’s Intergalatic Space 3rd Birthday Party. I can’t believe Luca is 3, he is growing up so fast, seems like just the other day we were taking him home from the hospital!

Luca had a blast at his party. There were cakes, lollie bags, rocket painting and a rocket landed in the back yard just for the party (homemade by Mark’s dad). The weather was perfect, warm but not hot, we served egg and bacon rolls and everyone had a swim. Luca really enjoyed having all of his friends over and on Sunday asked Mark if he could have his party again today. Here are a few photos from the big adventure. -kel

Noosa photo's

Noosa Heads

Luca at main beach Noosa

As a joint birthday gift to ourselves we took a five day holiday to Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast with kids in tow. The plan was to stay near the beach and not get a car so that there was little organising required, just a ton of time to relax at the beach and the pool with the kids. The holiday was everything we had hoped for, and with all that mum & dad time in the pool, Luca's swimming has come on enormously.

Happy Thanksgiving

This week we took a family holiday to Noosa, QLD.  (More on the trip with photos later.)  A highlight of the week for Luca were the wild turkeys wandering all over Noosa. We had no real Thanksgiving celebration here in Australia, apparently it was beach time, not feast time, for the Turkeys. -kel

There is a (new) New Fish in the sea

Summer is here in a big way with a few 100 degree days lately and more coming this week. The pool is getting lots of use. Luca's swimming and enjoyment in the water is night and day versus last summer and Scout has a perma-grin whenever she goes in the water. Scouty's first swimsuit issue audition below (and as you can see she is still waiting for her two top front teeth... maybe she will get them for Christmas).

Melbourne Cup Pool Party

Yesterday I hosted my mothers groups Melbourne Cup Party. It was 35 (110) and steamy so the party was more of a pool party where we watched the horses for about 2 mins. Not really your traditional Melbourne Cup affair. Luca and Scout had a blast. To quote Luca this morning "my friends came over to watch our horses in the pool". Here are a few pics, Scout sporting her first barrette (my attempt at a fascinator). Oh and Shocking won the race, cool name for a horse huh!-kel

Hot and Cold

10 min after Luca went to bed...

Luca: Daddy, daddy, da...dd...yyyy (yelled very loudly from his room)

Mark: Yes Luca (standing in Luca's room)

Luca: I am hot

Mark: Ok mate we can fix that (removes quilt from Luca's bed)

5 min later...

Luca: Daddy, daddy, da...dd...yyyy (yelled very loudly from his room)

Mark: Yes Luca (standing in Luca's room)

Luca: I am cold

Mark: Ok mate we can fix that (put quilt back on Luca's bed and pretends to turn on Luca's heater)

5 min later...

Luca: Daddy, daddy, da...dd...yyy (yelled very loudly from his room)

Mark: Yes Luca (standing in Luca's room)

Luca: I am hot and cold (said with a very very cheaky smile)

Oh the joys of parenthood! -kel

Melbourne (a couple of weeks ago)

It's always a bad year when we don't make it to Melbourne at least once so it was with great enthusiasm that we accepted an invitation to friends Adam and Amanda's wedding ... in Melbourne.

We travelled without the kids, without Scout for the first time, so we were a little sad to leave but the upside was days of sleeping in, long breakfasts in cafes reading magazines and relatively unplanned cruising around.

We stayed in the heart of the action in South Yarra - although in Melbourne the action is really spread out pretty thick. We hit our favourite Italian cafe, Brunetti, and a couple of Kel's favourite fabric stores on the first morning and we spent the afternoon shopping on Chapel St followed by a few beers and sushi for dinner. The sleep in part was an anti-climax, being so used to 6:00AM wake ups accompanied by being woken at least once during the night to adjust blankets or administer a feed, we found we were up and ready to go by 8:30.

Day two was fun, we always manage to discover something new on our trips to Melbourne and this time it was Albert Park. We went there on a whim to a cafe we had read a recommendation about and to visit a store Kelly had seen in a magazine. The cafe was good, although there were half a dozen others on the same strip that could have easily filled the brief, the shop we went to see was marginal at best however the area had a ton of other interesting stores and we ended up spending half a day there and I didn't even make it to Andrew's Burgers (supposedly the best in Melbourne). 

After Albert Park we ticked off another favourite of ours, eating vanilla slices on Ackland St, St Kilda. Full stomachs and back to the hotel for cruisy wedding prep.

The wedding ceremony was out on a pier in the middle of Port Phillip Bay and it was blowing a gale, the 15 minute walk out along the pier was a tough one for Kel. For the ceremony we were in shelter but there was still the walk back to the reception. We had a really fun night and I even got a quick opportunity to show my dance floor clearing moves which always provide Kel a few laughs.

Sunday we caught up with our friends Dieter and Katie who were also down for the wedding from Sydney. We had a great morning wandering the laneways of Melbourne enjoying a lazy breakfast and some window shopping. In the afternoon we visited our good friends Franc and Di (Scouty's god parents), had pizza and watched the rugby league grand final on TV. A quick diversion for gelato on the way home.

Monday involved some more eating and catching up with the newly married couple and then home to see the kids. Melbourne is awesome and so is getting home to see Luca and Scout.

Sneaky Exit From Work

Nothing better than a day that seems like two and no better end to the week than sneaking away from work a little early to hang out with kids at the beach for a few hours. Granted it was still a little chilly, but a million miles from work and only a minute from home, here's to a few more sneaky exits from work and to many hours of fun at the beach this summer for Kelly, Scouty, Luca and I. 

Luca Sings Johnny Cash

Luca's favorite singer is Johnny Cash (clearly influenced by Mark!).  Tonight he was in performance mode...-kel

Spring Weekend

We've had a busy few weeks, Mark and I have both had heaps on with work and we took a long four day's in Melbourne (kid free) last weekend.  Since we were kid free last weekend, this weekend it was all about the kidos...Saturday I took Luca and his best friend Sean to see the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Show, Sunday was lunch at our favorite Aussie Pie shop and a picnic in the park.  Scout is crawling everywhere, chasing Luca.  Luca is talking non-stop and his imagination is running wild.  Seeing the two of them together is amazing.  We are really looking forward to a nice warm summer and can't wait to see these two in the ocean! -kel